Velvet Box
by KitKat-Pyrophobia
Summary: Scorpius left a ring and a proposal on the bedside table... Rose didn't want to make her answer too easy to find out. Rose/Scorpius oneshot


**Disclaimer: **I donut own Harry Potter. (Why am I lame like this? XD)

**A/N:** I guess this could be considered kind of a gift to my parents. (Which is why I've oh-so-awkwardly posted this at 2 in the morning on a Wednesday after hastily reading through it for mistakes and probably missing most…) Even though they don't even know I write fanfictions, a lot of this is actually inspired by them, so it only makes sense to post it today: their 21st anniversary is May 4 :D And fittingly enough, my mom's name is Rosie, so it's works (and always been weird for me to write R/S on that basis). XD

And now, since I strayed out of my newfangled (:'D I love MS Word thesaurus) comfort zone and didn't make it slash, it could be considered a gift to all of my strictly-het readers! Sorry I haven't done more for you guys… :'( I promise I don't ignore the requests for me to write more Rose/Scorpius… I just don't really have inspiration for them anymore, you know?

This is for you guys!

* * *

><p>Rose was only half awake when she felt Scorpius shift away from her in the bed. She knew that the blond had to get up, that he had to get to work and go to Romania for the day, but that didn't make the half-conscious pain feel any better. She hated the inevitable feeling of abandonment, as much as she knew Scorpius didn't want to leave her either.<p>

Blinking sleepily, she pushed some of her bed-mussed auburn hair out of her face and looked at Scorpius's dim figure getting dressed across the room.

She was always somewhat amazed at how quickly he could get ready in the mornings, and this one was no exception, even through her semi-conscious state. In what seemed like no time at all, he was pushing the bangs back from her face and planting soft kisses on her forehead, on the tip of her nose, on her lips. She smiled and kissed him back just as lightly, letting the butterflies lazily fly around her stomach.

"I'll be back soon," He whispered, looking down at her with the gentlest silver eyes.

She made a sleepy noise of assent. "I know. I'll be waiting,"

She felt a hand softly trace the side of her face, from her temple to her jawline, and the tender press of plush lips against her own once again, and she knew that Scorpius was gone for the time being.

Disappointed, she fell into sleep again.

* * *

><p>When she woke, Rose could instantly feel that she was late. Hazel eyes snapping open, chest heavy from being thrown straight out of REM state, she quickly located the clock on the opposite wall that only confirmed her intuitive thought: she was supposed to have woken up an hour ago.<p>

Muttering a quick curse, she flung the covers off her body and rushed to her closet to throw on her black slacks and work shirt, buttoning up the white shirt and rolling up rather wrinkled sleeves hastily. Halfway hopping into the bathroom, pulling her second black loafer onto her foot, she brushed her teeth almost painfully quickly and tried to flatten her bed-mussed ginger hair to only some effect. Not for the first time, she was eternally grateful that she had the habit of showering before she slept, no matter how late her night was, so she didn't have to worry about smelling of sweat and… the results of last night's activities as she got ready. The only thing she could have smelled like was her soap, minty toothpaste, and Scorpius's skin.

She sighed, and time seemed to move more slowly around her. Feeling more sluggish all of a sudden, she spit the last of her toothpaste into the sink and looked into the mirror again. She had bags under her eyes again, more than likely from lack of sleep from the night before, and her lightly freckled skin was paler than before. The loneliness was beginning to set in. Though, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, as this business trip had promised to be shorter than the rest. Much shorter, actually, only lasting a day rather than a month like some killer previous ones. A small smile turned the corners of her pale pink lips that still tingled from the light press of Scorpius's earlier that morning.

Rose walked back into the bedroom to pick up her glasses from the bedside table. In all fairness, her vision wasn't _too _terrible, but she felt inclined to wear the wire-rimmed specs just because Scorpius had told her before how cute they made her look. In turn, she always _felt _cuter when wearing them. Once her vision cleared—but didn't become any brighter, she thought pessimistically—, her eyes focused on the pointedly empty spot next to hers on the bed.

Though there wasn't a head on the pillow, there was a small piece of paper with hurriedly written note. Smiling, she picked it up and read through the single sentence about missing her and loving her with a heart that felt strangely light and heavy at the same time.

Feeling too sentimental for her own good, tears rising to her eyes much too early in the morning, she folded the scrap of parchment up and stashed it in her back pocket for safe keeping.

She began to place her glasses case back onto the bedside table, but found something unusual on the surface for once.

The ginger blinked once. Twice. And then her hazy mind finally tuned in fully to small velvet box.

Hands shaking, she picked it up, opening the smooth hinges. On the very top was another note, the second of the morning.

"Rose—

This is for you. Your acceptance to my proposal will be answered by whether or not you're wearing this when I arrive home.

I love you,

—Scorpius"

Rose was violently trembling at once, and she nearly dropped the small box as she set the unfolded piece of paper back onto the bedside table. She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, heart pounding in her chest.

Her breath caught as she saw the ring for the first time.

It was a simple white-gold band, with no huge rock of a diamond or anything ridiculously flashy, only a modest single square-cut diamond that sparkled in the natural sunlight that streamed in from the window. There was nothing engraved on the inside, nothing added for shock value and nothing gaudy… just… simple. Beautiful.

Perfect.

Without a second thought about the decision, Rose slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand.

* * *

><p>It was a short distance from her and Scorpius's flat to the shop in Diagon Alley where Rose worked. Forever thankful for this fact, Rose's sprinting down the stairs and down the street kept her from being late to work for the third time that month. Though she was tired and panting by the time she was in, she was still on time.<p>

The owner, a portly old wizard with a bit of an obnoxious beard, only raised an eyebrow at her as she manned her station at the checkout counter. Rose didn't let the disapproving look bother her. She was in too good a mood.

Feeling quite like a giddy idiot, she leaned forward on her elbows, one hand on supporting her chin, her left extended in front of her, admiring the band on her finger once again.

Never one for narcissism, she didn't often look at things on her body and say that they looked flawless. The ring on her finger could only be described as such.

"Rose!" The owner called from some nondescript rack of clothing.

She jumped, instantly broken from her reverie. "Yeah?"

"Pay attention. We've got customers."

"Sorry," She called back sheepishly, crossing her arms on the glass counter and leaning forward again.

Rose honestly _tried _to focus. She really did attempt to force her mind to stay on track when there were customers. She worked to keep a friendly face and stick to her routine script of:

"Hello,"

"May I help you with anything?"

"Is there anything I can help you find?"

"Do you have any questions?"

To be fair, her conviviality was up to par, if not even more enthusiastic than usual. But the questions were all jumbled and lost in her head as she shifted her arms and the ring once again came into view on her finger. All that ended up escaping her mouth was some splice of the script that sounded along the lines of, "May I help you with find any questions?" followed by a lively giggle that probably seemed more deranged than anything.

The customer, a man who looked just a few years older than Rose, looked at her curiously.

Rose's face burned with embarrassment and she could only pray that her manager wasn't watching her.

"No questions, thanks," The customer said, humor lighting up light brown eyes.

"Just let me know," Rose nodded, coercing her mind to _pay attention_, tucking her left hand into the crevice of her arm.

"I will," The man smiled and went back to browsing the shelves covered in everyday knickknacks that made for nice collectibles, but no one really _needed_. It was the beauty of the store. Everything was… pointless, really. Pointless but fun.

Rose tried her best to keep an eye on the man every few minutes, but mostly resigned to just lean on the counter in boredom. She kept her hands hidden in the insides of her crossed arms mostly for her own benefit.

To be honest, her heart hadn't stopped fluttering yet.

The man came up to the counter with some whirring toy, laying it down.

"Is this all for you?" Rose asked with a smile she couldn't have suppressed if she wanted to, holding up the more-or-less-unidentifiable object to check the price.

"Yes ma'am," He replied politely. He was actually kind of handsome in a rugged sort of way, with dark hair that was cropped short and a bit of scruff along his jawline.

_I remember when Scorpius cut his hair short_, Rose thought in happy reminiscence, ringing up the item.

"You know, the most valuable thing in here is probably that on your finger," The man said, nodded toward her left hand.

The redhead beamed as a response.

"Though, you look a bit young to be married."

_Married_… the word rang through Rose's mind as if it was the only noise in a vast empty space. She felt like giggling again.

"Engaged, actually," The redhead correct him, grin threatening to split her face straight in half.

_Engaged…_

"For how long?" Rose conveniently missed the look of disappointment that crossed the man's face, her thoughts centering purely around her… fiancé.

"This morning, I suppose?" She paused to remember the thrill she felt upon finding the box, a feeling that had yet to completely wear away. "Though, I don't think it can really count, since he hasn't seen me wearing it yet…"

The man cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"He left it for me to decide whether or not to wear it before he left on a business trip," She explained, the story seeming much less romantic coming out of her mouth than it actually was. "That'll be fifteen Sickles,"

He nodded and reached into his pocket for the change. "That sounds nice," He remarked, sounding less than enthused.

The smile hadn't left her face. "Thank you, it is," She accepted the change, putting it into the appropriate slot in the magically-modified register.

The man picked up the trinket. "Well, best of luck to you."

"Thank you," She said, her gratitude genuine even if the man's encouragement wasn't.

With a rather stale smile that paled in comparison to Rose's blindingly bright one, the man left.

_Engaged… _

_To Scorpius Malfoy…_

Rose laughed happily and buried her face in her arms for just a few seconds, letting the excitement and nervousness and feeling of incessant butterflies in her stomach take her completely over.

It really was official, then. She would be marrying the man she'd been in love with for over seven years, since their Seventh Year of school when they'd had such an awkward exchange of confessions and a less-than-perfect first kiss that somehow managed to sweep her completely off her feet.

They were… getting _married_.

"Rose Weasley!" Her manager called from the back, clearly seeing Rose's state.

"Yes?" She yelled back, shooting upright.

"What is with you today, child?" The old man seemed amused.

"I'm… I'm marrying Scorpius, Boss." She replied.

Her boss snorted. "Oh, to be young and in love," He said wistfully, and then went back to his own business.

Rose sighed and rested her chin on her fist, admiring the ring once again. She could only imagine that she would be doing that quite often now, wrapped up in her own hazy happiness that couldn't be broken for anything.

* * *

><p>If there was one thing Rose loved to do, it was torture Scorpius. So, she decided that she wasn't going to make it such an easy task for the blond to find out her answer to the proposal.<p>

Feeling devious, she channeled a bit of her cousins' prank-playing energy as she schemed.

Knowing that everything had a price of sacrifice, she played with the thermostat of her flat (though she was still unfamiliar with the Muggle apparatus) until it promised a ten-degree drop in temperature. Rose dug in her drawer until she found some gloves and put them on, a bit disappointed that _she _could no longer see the ring on her finger.

She was pretty attached to it, actually.

The redhead glanced at the clock. Six o'clock. Scorpius would be coming home any time now.

Her heart pounded with anticipation, and it was kind of ridiculous, really, the way that the _thought _of Scorpius could make her stomach twist into knots and her entire though process get knocked completely off course. They'd been together for, what, seven years now? Most relationships she knew of didn't even last sevenmonthsbefore getting boring, or losing their spark.

She and Scorpius had never had that problem.

She still felt it was crazy in a sense of madness how she would still blush (like the schoolgirl she'd been when they'd started dating) when Scorpius would smile or compliment her or look straight into her eyes just long enough to be unnerving.

It was a bit unfair, actually… Because the Malfoy _always _seemed to be so damn composed no matter what.

Rose was quite looking forward to seeing him become just the opposite.

Sporting a grin that bordered on evil, she checked that the dinner she'd prepared was still looking pristine—yeah, it hadn't moved at all—and took a seat on the couch, leg bouncing as she waited for her… fiancé.

The smile softened into a sweet one as she fingered the ring underneath her glove. Smooth metal she could almost _feel _shining beneath her fingertips… she knew it looked even better in person, the somehow warm-tinted silver standing out beautifully against the pale skin of her hand…

And what it _meant_ to be wearing it…

She knew since she was seventeen (sixteen, actually, if she were to count the year of crushing prior to their dating) that she would belong to Scorpius forever. Now, it was official. He wanted her to be with him for the rest of their lives, and she was more than glad to accept the offer. They were going to be married and introduce each other as husband and wife and wear wedding rings and her nametag at work would say "Mrs. Malfoy". Everyone would know that they were serious, and they really did love each other even if they were Romeo and Juliet and their parents hated each other. They were going to have a happy ending, because this was real between them, and the ring on her finger said as much.

The doorknob rattled, and she perked up in her seat. Feeling suddenly fidgety, she stood and straightened her shirt and smoothed her pants and suddenly her mind flew to the _other_ blouse in her closet that she _knew _she should have worn instead—was her eyeliner smudged?— and what if he didn't like the dinner she made, and what if he was tired from work and wanted to go straight to bed and how should she smile when he opened the door and oh Merlin the door was opening and she was sure she looked terrified by now—

All of her thoughts were wiped instantly away when he stepped in, and the blond-haired head looked up from the doorknob straight into her hazel eyes as if he knew exactly where she would be standing. He smiled softly, and she bit her lip shyly and it was so stupid and she felt so stupid because they'd been together for seven years and she should have grown up from being a blushing little child, but Scorpius had that effect on her every time.

"I'm home, beautiful," He said, eyes like warm mercury as he stepped forward.

She may as well have melted into the carpet right there.

Her face clearly displayed as much, because his smile widened and he chuckled as he closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms.

"I made dinner," She mumbled, burying her embarrassed face into his chest.

"Let's eat, then," He pulled away, smile never leaving his lips.

She turned to walk to the kitchen, still humiliated that her face was blushing so red in front of the man that she would _soon be marrying_, but his hand caught hers in her haste.

He was genuinely trying to be crafty in the way that his hand slipped into her left one, his fingers linking with hers.

Turning her head to hide her evil grin and thinking, _The game starts now…_ She stopped his fingers from lacing with hers and simply clasped their hands. "It's cold in here, isn't it?"

"A little," He agreed, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Something went weird with the thermostat, I think. And you know what happened the last time I tried to mess with that thing," She all-but bounced through the dining room door and to the table.

Scorpius followed behind her, stopping once he caught sight of the dinner, complete with half-filled wine glasses and lit candles. "Wow, Rosie,"

"I made it kind of last minute, so…" She bit her lip and trailed off, fiddling with her fingers nervously.

He moved in front of her so they were chest to chest, grabbing her other hand and leaning forward. "It's perfect."

She smiled timidly and looked up at him through her lashes only to lose sight of him when her eyes fluttered shut and his lips caught hers in a gentle kiss.

Rose lightly sighed against his mouth, her mind going fuzzy at the simplest of contact with Scorpius.

She nearly missed the way his fingers were sneakily slipping into the elastic band of her left glove, because all of her senses were more than just a bit muddled, but she caught it. Cackling in her mind, she broke the kiss as casually as she could and pulled away from him. "Let's eat. I'm hungry."

His smile turned just a little bit forced as frustration flashed in his eyes.

Ever the gentlemen, he slid out her chair for her to sit down before he crossed to the opposite side of the quaint, square dining table to sit.

They ate their dinner and drank their wine just as they would any other day. Rose asked about his trip to Romania, and he told her about it. He said he was tired from the travel, and she said she'd missed him, and he told her the same.

The only difference was that instead of his eyes looking into hers as she talked, they kept darting to her left hand.

She hadn't thought it out very well when she was planning, but Rose was left-handed, so her fork kept slipping on her gloved fingers as she tried to eat.

He noticed this and raised a brow. "You know, if you took your gloves of then it'd be easier to hold your fork."

The redhead simply rolled her eyes and waved off his suggestion. "It's better than freezing."

He rolled his eyes in turn.

She was honestly surprised that he hadn't asked about it by now. After some thinking, she figured that he was too shy to ask about it. That was one of the many things she loved about Scorpius: underneath his cool exterior, where nothing ever seemed to faze him, he was actually rather shy. He tended to give backhanded compliments or otherwise indirect ones, because his cheeks always tinted (the most adorable) pink when he directly stated something like that, the Malfoy equivalent to crimson. That was probably why he left the ring in the first place: so he didn't get too nervous and back out on asking her face-to-face.

The Weasley refrained from "aww"ing at the table because of that thought. Instead, she gave him a look of pure adoration that made his eyes narrow slightly.

"What?" He asked, raising his wine glass to his lips.

She shrugged and smiled at him.

Scorpius pointedly glanced at her left hand.

She deliberately looked away, pretending not to see.

The dinner continued in a way much the same, and they both helped clean up. Rose narrowly finagled her way out of doing the dishes in favor of putting the leftovers away, so she didn't have to take her gloves off to get her hands wet. Scorpius, she could tell, was getting wary, but still didn't say anything about it.

His finesse was getting sloppier and sloppier, though, and he had resorted to literally grabbing her hand a few times, only to have Rose slyly worm away.

She found that she was sneakier and more evil than she'd originally thought.

It must have been her twin uncles' genes showing through.

Rose was halfway finished placing the now-clean dishes into the cabinet when comfortably familiar arms wrapped around her waist and stilled all of her movements.

Scorpius's lips pressed lightly along the side of her neck, his slow, measured breath erupting goosebumps along her arms. She stacked the last plate on top of the rest and relaxed into his touch.

"I never got a proper welcome back," He playfully whispered in her ear, the tickling sensation making her move away slightly.

The redhead turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck faster than he could grab her hands. "Welcome home," She said, voice quieter than she intended, but hey, Scorpius's warm gaze was more than just a bit nerve-wracking.

And then he was kissing her, before she had a chance to even breathe again, passionate lips moving against her own in a way that was familiar but no less exhilarating.

His hands moved to grip her hips as the deep kiss continued, and he must have had a clue that her knees were weakening, because he picked her up as if she weighed nothing and set her on the counter, all without faltering a bit.

She brought her palm to his chest and pushed away slightly, breathing heavily but still smiling. "Welcome home."

He pecked her lips lightly. "I love you,"

Her breath hitched, just like it always did at those three simple words. "I love you, too,"

And then their lips met again, deeper than before, more insistent, the sweetness melting into scorching passion, making the world seem to close in as the air got hotter around them.

His body pressed against hers as fully as it could with their position, fingers trailing along her side and knotting in her auburn hair.

She gasped a little as his lips moved down her jawline to her neck and then back up, her vision now hazy in front of half-lidded eyes that were soon shut tightly once again.

His hand moved to grab hers, and she tactfully curled it around his neck, pulling his lips closer at the same time she moved it out of reach.

The blond broke the kiss, leaving them both panting. "Merlin, Rosie," Scorpius gasped, finally cracking.

Rose suppressed a grin at his face, feeling pride at the fact that her mission was accomplished and Scorpius had officially become ruffled and lost all of his poise under her discretion.

His hand grabbed hers, and he began to pull the glove off.

The redhead jerked back, cradling one hand in her other, avoiding his gaze, and effectively executing faux-guilt.

The man's face fell in sheer disappointment, and Rose would have felt worse if she wasn't such a sadist. His eyes moved to the floor, and a sigh fell from his lips.

She bit her lip in a way that read as holding back tears, but was actually a vehicle for her to hold back laughter. After a brief, tense pause, she whispered "Scorpius…", voice still unsure, and twined her arms around his neck.

He looked into her eyes, and okay yeah, this time the sadness etched into misty silver _did_ make her feel kind of like a terrible person.

She clasped her hands behind his neck and tugged him forward to her level, tilting her head and kissing him softly on his lips.

He reciprocated the kiss, but she could feel an edge of dissatisfaction in every movement, every press of his mouth against hers and every swipe of their tongues touching.

Halfway through, she almost forgot about her plan entirely, because Scorpius kissing her was just generally distracting. Somehow, a spark flared in her mind, and she remembered that she was supposed to have taken her gloves off already.

Stealthily enough so that she knew he wouldn't notice, she slipped the knitted fabric from her right hand, then her left, and held them both tightly in her right to keep them from falling and him noticing. Caught up in his sweet yet so intense kiss, it took her a second of hitched breath to get back to her task.

Slowly, carefully, and with subtle intent, she slid her fingers from the back of his neck to his shoulder, making sure that the metal band drug along his exposed skin and pressed into the pale expanse just above his collar.

The Weasley held back a smile as he felt his mouth halt on hers, his entire body going slightly rigid. When she opened her eyes, the redhead saw that _his _eyes were wide and his was face betraying shock.

He reached to his shoulder and took her hand with his own that she was touched near tears to feel slightly trembling.

Rose didn't hesitate to smile then, since Scorpius's shameless smile was enough to quite literally melt her heart and let it enter her bloodstream with the rest of her blood, warming her from the inside out. The way his eyes were shining teleported her straight back to Seventh Year at Hogwarts when she'd finally agreed to go out with him, making stops in her memory at their first kiss, their first night, the time when they decided to move in together. The smile stretched across his face was reminiscent of those times, but in a completely unexplainable way, it outshone every past smile combined.

Tears welled up in Rose's eyes. She swore that she saw moisture sparkling in his as well. Clearing her throat, she grinned and asked, "Do you have your answer?"

If it was possible, his smile grew wider, both rows of straight white teeth showing fully. "I thought—"

She cut him off by pulling him by the shoulder to press their lips together for half a second. "You thought I was going to say no?" She laughed lightly, "Why _wouldn't _I want to marry you, you daft—"

The redhead was the one cut off this time as Scorpius's mouth swooped in and claimed hers.

She smiled against his lips, holding his neck tightly as she scooted forward on the counter and wrapped her legs around his waist. He re-adjusted to hold her up properly, and broke apart to stare into her eyes with that utterly enamored look that knocked her breath out of her lungs and made her heart stutter.

Rose smiled weakly, mind still fuzzy from his kiss, and deliberately brought her left hand from the back of his neck to brush his cheek.

A contented smile broke across his face, and he breathed an "I love you, Rosie," just before he carried her to their bedroom for a night of passion and promises that were never to be broken.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **D'awwwwwww :)

Hahahaha I don't know why I felt the _dire _need to use the word "finagle" in this story… but I managed it. And I laughed at the sentence for like ten minutes straight after writing it. XD

To explain my earlier A/N… *wipes away a tear. I wanted this to be slash _really_ badly… It started out as a S/A, but all testosterone diminished once it started, so… in the end, it had to be Rose/Scorpius. :D To only further prove this point, my filename for this story is "why does het make me want to vomit " XD I'm fully converted to the dark side. Haha :'D But of course, that's an exaggeration. I like it as R/S.

(I really don't hate het as much as it may seem… I promise. :D)

Anyway, I hope you liked it. It's been almost a year since I actually wrote R/S at all… /sigh I remember back in the day when this was my OTP… good times :)

PLEASE_PLEASE__**PLEASE**_ **Favorite **and **Review** and put me on your **Alerts**, because it makes my life happy :)

((But... don't expect too much R/S, new or het-only readers, because my new updates are predominately slash. My older stuff is all R/S, though, if you're interested. :) Or, you know, try out some slash, because I have a few readers that can vouch for the fact that I turned them over to the dark side. :D))

Oh my shameless love for slash… XD _Anyway. _(Why is this A/N so long? _Because it's two in the morning and I have school tomorrow, that's why._)

Till next time!

_KitKat Pyrophobia_


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